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Can Inter-Industry Wage Differentials Justify Strategic Trade Policy?

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Author Info
Lawrence F. Katz
Lawrence H. Summers

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between labor market imperfections and trade policies. The available evidence suggests that pervasive industry wage differentials of up to 20 percent remain even after controlling for differences in observed measures of workers' skill and the effects of unions. Theoretical analysis indicates that given non-competitive wage differentials of this magnitude policies directed at encouraging employment in high-wage sectors could significantly enhance allocative efficiency. For the United States and other developed countries, such policies are more likely to involve export promotion than import substitution. Increased international trade flows (at least through 1984) have been associated with increased employment in high-wage U.S. manufacturing industries relative to low-wage U.S. manufacturing industries.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 2739.

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Date of creation: Nov 1989
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2739

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Murphy, Kevin M & Welch, Finis, 1992. "The Structure of Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(1), pages 285-326, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. William T. Dickens & Lawrence F. Katz, 1987. "Interindustry Wage Differences and Industry Characteristics," NBER Working Papers 2014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. John Pencavel, 1968. "An Analysis of the Quit Rate in American Manufacturing Industry," Working Papers 384, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  4. Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Efficiency Wage Theories: A Partial Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 1906, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1987. "The Causes and Consequences of the Dependence of Quality on Price," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-48, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. William T. Dickens & Lawrence F. Katz, 1987. "Inter-Industry Wage Differences and Theories of Wage Determination," NBER Working Papers 2271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Richard Baldwin & Paul Krugman, 1988. "Industrial Policy and International Competition in Wide-Bodied Jet Aircraft," NBER Chapters, in: Trade Policy Issues and Empirical Analysis, pages 45-78 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  8. Sah, Raaj Kumar & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1985. "The social cost of labor and project evaluation: A general approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 135-163, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Holzer, Harry J & Katz, Lawrence F & Krueger, Alan B, 1991. "Job Queues and Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 739-68, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Jeremy I. Bulow & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "A Theory of Dual Labor Markets with Application to Industrial Policy, Discrimination and Keynesian Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 1666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. de Melo, Jaime & Tarr, David, 1990. "Do wage distortions justify protection in the U.S. auto and steel industries?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 517, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. S. Lael Brainard, 1991. "Protecting Losers: Optimal Diversification, Insurance, and Trade Policy," NBER Working Papers 3773, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Robert C. Feenstra, 1995. "Estimating the Effects of Trade Policy," NBER Working Papers 5051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Gutierrez, Catalina & Orecchia, Carlo & Paci, Pierella & Serneels, Pieter, 2007. "Does employment generation really matter for poverty reduction ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4432, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Tomas Holub & Martin Cihak, 2003. "Price Convergence: What Can the Balassa-Samuelson Model Tell Us?," Working Papers 2003/08, Czech National Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  6. Xenia Matschke, 2006. "Do Labor Market Imperfections Increase Trade Protection? A Theoretical Investigation," Working papers 2006-12, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
  7. Xenia Matschke, 2004. "Labor Market Rigidities and the Political Economy of Trade Protection," Santa Cruz Center for International Economics, Working Paper Series 1019, Center for International Economics, UC Santa Cruz. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Phillip Swagel, 1993. "Union behavior, industry rents, and optimal policies," International Finance Discussion Papers 459, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  9. Kala Krishna & Kathleen Hogan & Phillip Swagel, 1989. "The Non-Optimality of Optimal Trade Policy: The U.S. Automobile Indust ry Revisited, 1979-1985," NBER Working Papers 3118, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. J. David Richardson, 1993. ""New" Trade Theory and Policy a Decade Old: Assessment in a Pacific Context," NBER Working Papers 4042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Harry P. Bowen & Leo Sveikauskas, 1989. "Judging Factor Abundance," NBER Working Papers 3059, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Ellingsen, Tore & Rosen, Åsa, 1994. "Skill or Luck? Search Frictions and Wage Differentials," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 1, Stockholm School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Minsik Choi, 2001. "Threat Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Labor Union Wage Premium," Working Papers wp27, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  14. Mary E. Lovely & J. David Richardson, 1998. "Trade Flows and Wage Premiums: Does Who or What Matter?," NBER Working Papers 6668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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